Article: People or Corporations? Restoring the Common Good

Excerpt from People or Corporations? Restoring the Common Good by Barry Bennett, The
Humanist, January-February 2012.

When Maine governor Paul LePage ordered the removal of a mural depicting the state's
labor history from the Department of Labor headquarters because it was "not in keeping
with the department's pro-business goals," he perfectly (if unknowingly) captured
our economic system's loss of purpose.

There's a reason it's the department of labor, not the department of business. The
point of capitalism used to be to create prosperous lives for the American people—most
of whom labor. But today it has no point beyond the health of corporations—the means
have become the end.

This shift began at least thirty-five years ago. As rising economic powers threatened
U.S. economic hegemony, corporations reacted by moving offshore and slashing wages
and benefits.

Financial analysts hailed this harsh but profitable response: the massive layoffs
were "long overdue" and showed a willingness to make "tough decisions." Meanwhile,
the analysts noted, increases in the unemployment rate caused "euphoria" in the bond
market, whereas a brief fall in unemployment to a fifteen-year low was proof that
the U.S. economy was "too strong" and "way out of line."

The destruction of people's lives was a collateral effect; what mattered was that
profits were preserved.

Corporations and the common good weren't always at odds. The first corporations were
individually chartered by the states to serve a particular public purpose—building
a bridge, say, or a turnpike.